DAVIE, Fla. - Kim Sjostrom wanted a real-life version of the film "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which played in the background as friends fixed her hair and makeup before her own marriage ceremony.
But less than an hour after she and Teddy Efkarpides were wed, Sjostrom crumpled in her husband's arms during a Greek song that means "Love Me."
At 36, Sjostrom was dead from heart disease.
The wedding had became a project at Davie Elementary School, where Sjostrom taught first grade. Fellow teachers provided the wedding gown, the flowers and decorations. One of them, an ordained minister, performed the ceremony.
"It was perfect for her," said Dominic Church, the minister friend.
Sjostrom carried blue and white flowers during the ceremony — the colors of the Greek flag — as she exchanged vows with Efkarpides, a 43-year-old carpenter and Navy veteran. They had met three years to the day before the Jan. 19 wedding.
During the couple's first dance, Sjostrom complained of being lightheaded. Efkarpides thought his wife, a diabetic, needed sugar, but she collapsed.
Wedding guests, paramedics and doctors at a nearby hospital were unable to revive her.
She had a previous cardiac episode in her 20s and was a poster child — literally — for juvenile diabetes, relatives and friends said. Efkarpides recalled seeing the poster featuring her on New York subways.
He consoles himself by reading a list of "101 Reasons Why I Love You" that Sjostrom gave him their first Christmas together. "Number 1. You make me smile."
No. 98 is especially difficult: "You're the one I want to grow old with."
What if I don't ever get to see you again. What if that was the last time I was ever gonna see you. Sometimes I feel like it's a dream, as if it's non-existent, as if it didn't happen. But at the end of the day, I slap myself on the face and start feeling the reality in all this. Cruel as it might be, there's something in me that asks me to continue chasing for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
No matter how long it'll take.
xoxo,PEARLYN! 10:54 PM
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Lyrics: When It Rains by Paramore
Photo Set: Kristen Dunst for Miu Miu Spring 2008
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GIRL
Pearlyn Wee.
10th May 1993. Fifthteen. Commonwealthian. Basically an average teenager with big dreams. :D
First love of my life: Music Part of the CSS Choir family. I play the piano, guitar, a lil of drums. I listen to alternative, pop or just anything catchy. Love music by Yellowcard, Avril Lavigne, Jay Chou, Fall Out Boy, Angels and Airwaves, Marie Digby.
Second love of my life: Fashion Gotta look good, dress great, feel perfect. A full time shopaholic. Zara's a must stop at every trip! Marc Jacob's my ultimate hero.
Third love of my life: Fat food Always craving for chocolate and Ben&Jerry's Fish Food! A singaporean has to love its country's cuisine right?! Satay, fried rice, chicken wing..
Fourth love of my life: God's creations The beach. The star studded night-sky. Being in the outdoors. Capturing pictures of all things beautiful.
Fifth love of my life: BFFs
Keith! Charmaine! Dione! And all the other people who bring sunshine into my days. Oh, love y'all.
QUOTE
I believe that if you want something, and if you work hard enough, you'd get it. And I have everything I ever wanted. - Benji Madden of GC
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Since the time I started blogging 5 years ago, things that I put under this section always end up in my hands. So I guess it really works!
iPod Nano A Beach House/Headphones/Canon EOS SLR/Drumset/A Recording Studio/A shitload of guitars/Disneyland/Aussieland again!/Holiday to US/A hell lotta shoes/A perfect bod/Dior Addict Shine EDP/MJ Wallet/A mega shopping spree/Plain Ballerina Flats/Brilliant Matte Skin/A million sexy LBDs/Pink Sony Cam/Grow up, do something great in this world, be sucessful, earn $$$!
